Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 103

Benefits. —Literally, actions, whether good or bad (Judges 9:16; Proverbs 12:14). But what a significance in the restricted meaning “benefits.” God’s acts are all benefits.

Forgives. —The first “benefit” to one who aims at the higher life is the knowledge of the Divine readiness to forgive and renew, and this, as Augustine remarks, implies a quick moral sense: “God’s benefits will not be before our eyes unless our sins are also before our eyes.”

Diseases. —Here chiefly in a moral sense, as the parallelism “iniquity” shows, even if the next verse, taken literally, implies an allusion to physical suffering as well.

Destruction. —Rather, pit, or grave, as in Psalms 16:10.

Crowns. —A metaphor drawn from the common custom of wearing wreaths and garlands on festive occasions . Compare to Psalms 8:5.

Mouth. —On the Hebrew word rendered this way, see Psalms 32:9. The word adopted there (“trappings,” or “ornaments”) would recommend itself here, from the evident allusion in the next clause to the molting of the bird and its appearance in new plumage, if the expression “to satisfy ornament with good” were in any way intelligible. The Septuagint and Vulgate have “desire”; the Syriac “body”; but the Chaldee, “age,” which is supported (Gesenius) by the derivation, gives the best sense:—

Who satisfies your age with good, so that
Your youth renews itself like the eagle.

The eagle’s. —Hebrew, nesher; properly, the griffon, or great vulture. See Exodus 19:4; and Note to Obadiah 1:4.

The rendering of the Prayer Book, “like the eagle’s,” follows the Septuagint. The idea that the eagle renewed its youth formed the basis of a Rabbinical story, and no doubt appears also in the myth of the Phoenix. But the psalmist merely refers to the fresh and vigorous appearance of the bird with its new plumage.

Oppressed. —From individual the poet passes to national mercies, and goes back to the memorable manifestations of Divine favor granted to Moses.